Fear, misunderstanding and anger. Following the partial destruction of the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine, residents around the infrastructure are horrified to discover the destruction caused by the now irretrievably flowing water.
mass evacuations
Ukrainian authorities estimate that 24 towns located between the dam and the city of Kherson are inundated by the waters of the Dnieper River. A rise in the water level that has already caused the evacuation of 17,000 people on the Ukrainian side, while the information is fragmented, even missing, on the Russian side, where 25,000 people would be affected. The authorities installed by the Russians in the regions they occupy have assured, however, that they have carried out evacuations.
“The situation is really critical. If the water rises another meter, we will lose our house. We are just trying to save our loved ones and our most precious possessions,” Kherson resident Oleksandr told BFMTV.
For many locals, the priority is saving the animals that remain in the submerged houses. Thus, Tatiana was barely able to return to her house and pick up her two healthy dogs from hers. On the other hand, her house, unrecognizable, is temporarily uninhabitable.
“May they all end up in a coffin”
In Kherson, the water continues to rise this Wednesday morning. According to Nicolas Coadou, special correspondent for BFMTV in the Ukrainian city, the level is rising visibly and the streets and squares, dry on Tuesday night, are now under more than a meter of water.
“The most difficult situation is taking place in the Korabelny district of the city of Kherson. So far, the water level has risen 3.5 meters, more than 1,000 houses are flooded,” he said Tuesday night in a statement. deputy chief of staff of the Ukrainian presidency, Oleksiï Kouleba, press release.
The highest level should be reached this Wednesday at noon, before a return to normality is expected within three or four days.
Yet on the streets of this city that was first conquered by Russia in 2022, after many months of fighting before being partially taken over by the Ukrainian army, anger and resentment are growing stronger.
“They are crazy, sorry for the expression but what the fuck, my mother is 80 years old and I have to wear her last underwear and duvet covers. These Russian bastards, I want them all to end up in a coffin,” she drifts. Iván, who carries several bags of clothes under his arm.
For Oleksandr, this destruction of the dam is a ploy set up by Moscow to delay the Ukrainian counteroffensive. “They think our tanks won’t get through, but we don’t need tanks. We will finish them off by hand, ”he insists.
Moscow and Kyiv accuse each other
As evacuations continue, Moscow and kyiv blame each other for the destruction of the dam. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of “setting off a bomb” at the dam. She had undermined him, he said last October.
“It is physically impossible to blow it up somehow from the outside, with shelling,” the version given by Moscow, he added.
For its part, Russia on Tuesday called on the international community to “condemn” kyiv. “We call on the international community to condemn the criminal actions of the Ukrainian authorities, which are increasingly inhumane and pose a serious threat to regional and global security,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Source: BFM TV
